Donation of euros 15,000 raised for Germany’s Flood Disaster Victims

Reacting to the devastating floods that hit the Rhine Basin in West Germany during July, led to management and staff at KNAUER Wissenschaftliche Geräte, raising a sum of €15,000 to add to the disaster relief fund.

The spontaneous and self-organised donation campaign by the laboratory instrument manufacturer’s employees was helped by Germany’s exemption of taxes on donations made towards natural disasters that affect the country – meaning the full donation reaches those in need, whilst each donor only pays, depending on their tax bracket, around 55% of the cost from their post-tax earnings.

The shocking images of the devastation, which particularly hit the NorthRine-Westpahalia area caused by the floods touched everyone at KNAUER the company said - within a matter of days the company’s employees had donated €6,250. The management team then doubled this figure and went on to add the total donation value to a grand sum of €15,000. This donation was sent to the Germany’s relief coalition “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”.  

This method of donating was one that could easily be replicated by other companies a spokesperson commented. The HR team at KNAUER simply wrote a short email to all the employees, asking them if they were willing to donate – this got the ball rolling and the next steps came easily after.

“We all felt helpless, shocked and saddened when we saw the suffering that this disaster caused for those living in the impacted areas. We give them our full sympathy and we want to support them further with rapid financial assistance” explained Alexandra Knauer and Carsten Losch. “We are particularly proud of the wide participation in the donation scheme by our employees – it is clear to us that social responsibility is alive and well at KNAUER”

The family-owned company has been developing high-tech laboratory instruments for research, routine analysis and production for 59 years including liquid chromatography systems metering pumps, switching valves and detectors for high-pressure applications. Promotion of science and corporate responsibility are of great importance to the company.

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